Sunday, March 04, 2007

This Ain't a Scene...

There is a popular bumper sticker around here that says that Ithaca is a few square miles, surrounded by reality. (It is true, Ithaca is a unique place and sometimes I feel out of my element here.) Well, I entered a much smaller area that could be characterized as the anti-Ithaca. Where was this strange land? The Omni Shoreham hotel, the location for this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Walking into CPAC is what I imagine it is like to walk into another sorority’s formal meeting or ceremony. You feel like you stand out but you still want to know what happens behind the closed doors. I was sure the conference attendees would somehow be able to pinpoint my moderate stance in a minute and chase me out with torches. (Or perhaps stone me for being a vegetarian.) Apparently my short skirt and slightly confused look did not give me away.

One of the CPAC speakers was none other than Cornell alum Ann Coulter. It was bizarre to see her books being sold at six or more booths. I was probably the only one there who did not have a copy of her musings. While she was at the conference she indirectly called John Edwards a “faggot.” I doubt she was using the ‘bundle of sticks’ definition of the term. I am pretty sure insults like that were only borderline cool in elementary school.

Past the huge “Liberals Lie” banners and Hillary Clinton barf bags, I was very amused to stumble upon the bloggers’ corner. There were a few bloggers (like Red State) just sitting behind a table with computers. The whole setup was quite odd. In my mind I hoped they were live-blogging their little corner of the hall. I am sure the account would have gone something like this: “This guy in a red tie is watching Giuliani (speaking in the Ballroom a few yards away) on the television by our corner. Now a girl in an oversized Mitt Romney t-shirt stopped to listen as well. This could get crazy…”

I cannot imagine being put in that situation. It would be like sitting in the middle of Ho Plaza with my laptop. I would demand a glass box, then I would not be bothered by people trying to hand me flyers while I wrote. Actually I wish I could block those flyers without a glass box.

Anyway, most of the people I met at CPAC seemed nice. But any place with a panel called “Loony Ladies of the Left: How to Combat the Radical Feminists on Your Campus” is not the place for me. Those crazy ladies on college campuses and their books! What is the world coming to? I suppose I will just have to stick to the six packs and not CPAC for the rest of the semester…

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ugh. Ann Coulter is a disgusting human being. It's a shame that reasonable conservatives and radical, feminist-fag-France-hating conservatives have to hang out in the same room.

In any case.. I love your updates! Never end up in a glass box. :)

- Melanie

Blonde Belle said...

Thanks Melanie! I will try to avoid that fate...